Luminescent material



May 4, 1943. H. E. MATTIN 2,318,089 LUMINESCEN';1 MATERIAL I Filed July22, 1942 Lumnescenf Txh la comi nq (2 f 5 galassi' a Paar-l essence V uwMafa'f' [acque r E gxgxcc Fl bfc' Lummcsenf 5 I .VTraqspar'enFarleSSQnc-e n v lacqucr j (Z 2 l' Lummesccnf confn Transpa reni' shm/(/'0 20 3..

Lummescenf du@ 50 n n; c A'Peczr' ssen I lacquer' e Pam-I ssencc i hea ij Lumi-Bisogni coating I c H: s A H5 '6.

Patented May 4, 1943 y. LUMINESCENT MATERIAL Harry E Mattin, Brooklyn,N. Y., assigner to The Mearl Corporation, New York, N. Y., a,corporation of New Jersey Application July 22, 1942, Serial No. 451,825

(Cl. Z50-81)l 14 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in articles of manufacture ofallkinds'which are coated or impregnated with luminescent materials,particularly of the type which exhibit the phenomena of fluorescence andphosphorescence during and after excitation.

A prime object of the invention is to enhance the phenomena offluorescence and phosphorescence so as to increase the brilliance anduseful duration of illumination given oil by fluorescing andphosphorescing materials.

The full details and objects of this invention will be best appreciatedfrom the following detailed description of various embodiments thereof,and therefore no further specific delineation of objects will be setforth.

This invention resides substantially in the combination, construction,arrangement and relative location of parts, all as will be explained infull detail hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein the same reference numerals will beemployed to indicate the same or similar parts,

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a sheet, block, body or articleof manufacture in accordance with this invention, wherein the mainsupport may be opaque, translucent, or transparent.

thecasel of both uorescence and phosphorescence the amount of visibleenergy radiated is not very great, for manyv purposes. It is of courserecognized that the modern fluorescent lighting unit is capable ofproducing excellent light quality of usable-intensity. However there aremany possible uses for fluorescent and/or phosphorescent compoundswhichwould be greatly enhanced l for the conditions of excitationavailable if the lvisible energy radiated could in some way be vmade toappear at least to have a greater intensity.

Figure 2 is a similar view of a modified form of the inventiontvhereinvthe main sheet, block, body, or article is transparent.

Figure 3 is a similar view of afurther modification employing atransparent body.

Figure 4 is a similar view of another modification employing atransparent body impregnated with a luminescent material.

Figure 5 is a. similar -viewof a slight modiiication of the structure ofFigure 4.v

Figure 6 is a further modified form employing a transparent body. l

a modification of the structure of f Figure 'l is Figure 6.

AFigure 8 is afinal modification wherein the body is transparent.

There are many chemical compounds now Well known by reason of theirpresent extensive use in the fluorescent lightingiield which areluminescent under proper excitation, and many of which continue to beluminescent for some time after excitation ceases. The property of thesecompounds of giving oil light'during excitation, as for example byultraviolet light, is/ defined as fluorescence.

Many oi these compounds continue to visibly glowrin the darkness afterexcitation ceases, and this is frequently dened as phosphorescence. In

Thegeneral object of this invention is to provide a new combination ofelements wherein rela# tively feebly excited fluorescent andphosphorescent compoundsmay be made to appear at least lto give oivisible light of relatively greater* in` a v tens-ity and for longerperiods of time. The'basicv idea of this invention is to associate witha supportingbody of a coniiguration depending upon the use of thearticle, a coating of luminescent material, or to impregnate the bodywith a suit- -able luminescent material, some of which occur in the formof dyes, and associatewith the luminescent material a layer or quantityof pearl essence which 'by reason of itsV highly reilective and otherlight affecting qualities, causes the `light of luminescence orphosphorescence to appear to have agreater intensity than it wouldotherwise have in the absence of the pearl essence. y v f Y It is hardlynecessary to attempt to enumerate all the many uses to whichsuch acombination may be put, but as an example suchea combination rendersarticles so prepared of greater util? ity, for example during war timeblackout periods, e

or when employed on markers, watch dials, airplane instrument dials, andthe like. A

Since thel subject vmatter of the invention iis capable `of use inwidely divergent fields, the arti'- cles illustrated in the drawing aregeneralized inv that they do not pretend to represent any particulararticle of. manufacture.

It is likewisenoted that no particular lumi-A nescent compound ismentioned herein, inv view of the wide and detailed knowledgeof suchsub. jects now common to the lighting industry, for

example. Any' compound or mixture-of. compounds suitable for theparticular purpose to whichthe article is'to be put may be employed.

vReferring to Figure 1, the supporting body-l l may'be any suitablematerial such as a plastic, v

a metal, wood, glass, paper, or cardboard, bre, textiles, and the like.In this form of the invention this supporting'k body maybe either transespraying, dipping or otherwise, a layer of pearl essence, preferably inthe form of a lacquer. Pearl essence, or essence dOrient, is a lacquerlikewise well known, but briefly it may be stated luminescent dyev 30.Of course in the case of a. glass body I the luminescent powder or dyemust have the proper heat stability to withstand its incorporation intomolten glass. The body l0 is of course given any desired shape, and therear face thereof, as before, is coated with a pearl essence'lacquer, asindicated at 2.

to be the guanine crystals principally recoveredl from fish scales, andusually available either in aqueous or non-aqueous suspensions.

Pearl essence is commonly available in the form of a lacquer, in whichthe crystals are suspended in a solution of amyl acetate and Celluloid,although it is of course carried in other lacquer bases. Such a lacquer,as stated above, is spread on the surface of the body I in a layer ofsuitable thickness, and preferably after it is dry there is appliedthereover, in any suitable manner as by painting, spraying, or the like,a coating of any suitable luminescent material or mixtures thereof.Materials may be used depending upon the requirements, which fluoresceunder excitation and do not exhibit the quality of phosstill furthermodification is illustrated in- Figure 6, wherein the main body I0 isagain phorescence or after-glow when excitation ceases,

or they may exhibit both characteristics.

It has been foundthat the `association of the pearl essence with theluminescent material causes the visible radiations to be intensified,and in the case of phosphorescence, to in fact increase the duration ofeiective after-glow by reason of the efficient reflection of theavailable visible light.

The basic feature of this invention, as will be explained lin connectionwith` the other figures of the drawing, may be employed in variousways.With regard to Figure. 2, the main body I0 is in this case transparent,and may be of glass, clear plastic, and the like. Upon the rearface'thereof is applied the pearl essence coating 2, while theluminescent coating 3 is applied to the front Yface thereof. Sucharticles exhibit the increase in apparent light intensity previouslydescribed in detail. If desired, the pearl essence layer may be coatedover with the coating of opaque material of any suitable type, as forexample paints, lacquers, and the like, so as to protect the coating andprevent the transmission of any light through the coating.

The structure shown in Figure 3 is a modification of that of Figure 2.In this case a transparf ent body I0 has a luminescent coating 3 on theface thereof, and the pearl essence is applied to theback of the body inthe form of a sheet of pearl essence 20. Pearlessence sheets arelikewise known and available, and simply consist of a sheet'of the.desired thickness of some plastic material, as Celluloid, havingincorporated in or coated on one face thereof a layer of pearl essence.This sheet may be cemented or attached `to the body l0 in any suitablemanner. In the case of thermosetting plastics, the pearl essence sheetcan bewelded to the plastic body I0 under the proper heat and pressureconditions. Here again, if desired, the rear face of the pearl essencesheet may be coated with any suitable opaque substance.

A.,modiilcation of the subject matter of this invention is clearlyillustrated in Figure 4.v In this casethe body I'0 is again oftransparent material and may consist of a clear plastic, glass, or thelike, which has directly incorporated there on a powdered luminescentmaterial 01j a transparent. In this case the luminescent coating 3 isfirst applied to the rear face of the body l0. A coating 2 of pearlessence is applied thereover and this, in turn, is protected by anopaque coating I0. 1

The combination of Figure 6 is similar to that of Figure l, but whereasthe combination of Figure 6 may only be applied to transparent bodies,the combination of Figure 1 may be applied to any type of material,whether it be transparent, opaque, or translucent.

In the modification of Figure 'I the main body I0 is again transparent.In this combination the luminescent material is mixed with the 4pearlessence lacquer and the two applied to the rear face of the body lin acoating in any suitable way.V Thus the two are combined in a singlelayer. While this arrangement is not as `effective as those previouslydescribed, it is disclosed as a. useful variant. This coating may beprotected, as before, by means of the opaque coating l..

In the modification of Figure 8 the transparent body l0 has incorporatedin it the pearl essence 2.

On the upper face thereof is applied the coat` ing of luminescentmaterial, as indicated at 3. It will beat once apparent that Figure 8 isalso illustrative oi the idea of simply coating a pearl essence sheetwith luminescent material on its surface or side at which the pearlessence is exposed.

A final modification of the inventiomwhich not illustrated and which isnot as useful as the others, would be that wherein a mixture of pearlessence and luminescent material is incorporated directly in atransparent body, such as a body of plastic material. In this case, asin the others where the pearll essence is incorporated in thetransparent body, as in the pearl essence sheet, the guanine crystalsare all oriented in one direction to form a surface or layer which isreiiective. Material of this type is known.

From the above description of a number oi' modifications of theinvention, it will be apparent that `it is capable of considerablevariation without departing from the central idea thereof, namely ofbacking a fluorescent or phosphorescent coating or dye with a layer ofpearl essence to take advantage of the light reflective and modifyingproperties of the guanine crystals. I do not, therefore, desire to bestrictly limited to the disclosure as given herein for illustrativepurposes, but rather by the scope of the claims granted me.

What is claimed is:

l. An article of manufacture as described, comprising pearl essence anda luminescent material overlying the pearl essence. y

2. An article of manufacture comprising a supporting body intended to beviewed from one 4. As an article of manufacture, a body of transparentmaterial, a coating of pearl essence mounted on said body, and a coatingof luminescent material also mounted on said body.

5. As an article of manufacture, a. body of transparent material, acoating of pearl essence mounted on said body, and a coating ofluminescent material overlying the pearl essence coating.

6. As an article of manufacture, a body of transparent material having alayer of pearl essence on one side and a coating of luminescent materialon the opposite side.

7. As an article of manufacture, a body of transparent material having alayer of pearl essence on one side, a coating of luminescent material onthe opposite side, and a layerof protective material on top of the pearlessence.

8. An article of manufacture comprising a. body of clear plasticmaterial having a layer of pearl essence incorporated therein, and a.coating of luminescent material on one face.

9. As'an article of manufacture, a laminated body of clear plastichaving a layer of Vpearl essence interposed between the laminations, anda coatingl of luminescent material on one face thereof.

10. A body of transparent material having a luminescent materialincorporated therein, and a layer of pearl essence on one face thereof.

11. As an article of manufacture, a body of transparent material havingpearl essence incorporated therein and a layer of luminescent materialon one face thereof.

12. As an article of manufacture, a body of opaque material havingsuperimposed layers of pearl essence and luminescent material on atleast one face thereof.

13. As an article of manufacture, a body of transparent material havinglayers of pearl essence and luminescent material on a pair'of oppositefaces thereof.

14. As an article of manufacture, a body of transparent material havinglayers of pearl es sence and luminescent material on a pair of oppositefaces thereof, and a protective coating overlying the pearl essencelayer.

HARRY E. MATTIN.

